The Brackens and the Blackwoods have been feuding for thousands of years, from the time of the Age of Heroes when they were rivals as kings over the riverlands at various points in time. Matters were not helped when the Brackens abandoned the old gods in favor of the Seven (I: 662. THK: 43. SSM: 1)

The feud between the Brackens and the Blackwoods was reinvigorated when Ser Otho Bracken, called the Brute of Bracken, killed Lord Quentyn Blackwood in tourney at King's Landing in about the year 205 (THK: 463)

The Bracken lands touch the Red Fork (III: 22)

In 211, Lord Bracken was dying a slow death, while his eldest son died of the plague during the Great Spring Sickness. This left Ser Otho, the Brute of Bracken, as heir, a situation which could mean war as the Blackwoods hated him (TSS: 121)

Lord Bracken was delayed by storms on the narrow sea, which kept him from arriving with Myrish crossbowmen to support Daemon Blackfyre (TSS: 135-136)

Lord Otho Bracken, the Brute of Bracken, was not among those who attended Lord Butterwell's tourney in the reign of King Aerys I (TMK: 672)

Bittersteel was Ser Aegor Rivers, the bastard son of Aegon the Unworthy by his fifth mistress, Lady Barba Bracken. Angry at his lot as a bastard, he was dark-haired, lithe, and hard. He wore a horsehead crest upon his helm and his arms featured a red stallion with black dragon wings, snorting flame against a golden field (SSM: 1, 2)